


Chiaroscuro

by HouseofSannae



Series: Kingdom Hearts Ψ [19]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, With Apologies to A.A. Milne, mild panic attack, plotted pre-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-13 12:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18940627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseofSannae/pseuds/HouseofSannae
Summary: Chiaroscuro,n, an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.Vanitas joins Sora on a mission to Radiant Garden, where he'll make some new friends... whether he wants to or not.





	1. The First Bit

            It could have been worse, Vanitas reflected.

            He could have been trapped in one of those odd “gummi ship” things with Sora for hours on end. According to Donald the damn things ran on “happy faces”. Because of _course_ they did.

            What Vanitas had was anything but a happy face. It would have been one thing if he and Sora were exploring a new world together. Then, at least, he might have the comfort of getting to laugh when Sora inevitably made an ass of himself being reckless. But, no. No, it had to be a world that Sora had been to already, with a bunch of locals that he was already _friends_ with.

            And of course it had to be a world that Vanitas had already been to, too.

            Radiant Garden had seen better days. Vanitas had been there, in its better days, as had Aqua, Terra, Ventus, and apparently Kairi. And so had the old bastard, which Vanitas was reasonably sure was the reason why those better days had long since passed. He wasn’t sure how to ask.

            Who to ask, though, seemed more reasonable, if he could work up the ~~nerve~~ attention span. Upon their arrival Sora had paraded him in front of what had once been a rag-tag group of people with unclear goals and good hearts, but was now more commonly known as the “Radiant Garden Restoration Committee”. A wannabe ninja, a prettyboy with a gun for a sword, an old pilot, a flower girl, a bartender, and yet another emo kid whose sword was definitely compensating for nothing at all. What a crew.

            “And this is Vanitas!” Sora declared, smiling brightly.

            The old pilot – Cid, Vanitas begrudgingly decided he ought to remember – raised an eyebrow. “Sora, I distinctly recall asking you to bring your boyfriend and girlfriend next time you visited us. This kid looks like neither of them. I assume.” There was a teasing tone in his voice but Vanitas still bristled at being called a “kid”.

            Sora rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. “Yeah, well… we’re not really here to visit. Master Yen Sid sent us on a mission here. Is something wrong?”

            “No more so than usual,” the prettyboy – Leon, Vanitas thought, though that sounded made up – said. “We still have a pretty bad Heartless infestation.”

            Sora frowned. “But I thought I sealed the Keyhole?”

            “You did, but our world’s heart was damaged,” said the emo – Cloud, his name was Cloud. “So… we’re still getting Heartless.”

            “Which is really throwing a wrench into the whole rebuilding the town thing!” added… Yuffie? The loud one. Yeah, Yuffie was her name, Vanitas was pretty sure. “Cause, yanno, we kill them, they come right back, and all?”

            “Oh, I get it!” Sora said, beaming. “So since we have Keyblades, they won’t come back!”

            “That’s the plan,” Cid said. “’Course we understand that you probably can’t get them all. Until the world’s heart heals, Heartless are just going to be a fact of life here.”

            “But, ideally, the two of you will be able to thin the numbers enough that we can expand the borders of the town,” Leon concluded.

            Sora turned to Vanitas. “What do you say, Vanitas? You feel up to fighting Heartless?”

            Vanitas rolled his eyes. “You say that like I have a choice.”

            Sora frowned, confused. “But… you _do_ have a choice. You know your limits better than I do, so if you don’t think you’re ready to handle them, I’m not going to hold it against you.”

            Vantias glared at him. “Fuck off. Just point me at them.” He ignored the slight gasp from Yuffie and the widening of the others’ eyes; apparently they’d never heard someone swear in front of Sora before. Not his problem.

            Cid coughed. “Well, anyway, if you two’re ready, we’ll head out to the outskirts. I’ve got this cart.” He jerked a hand towards a four-wheeled vehicle behind him. “It’s no gummi ship, but it gets the job done. Let me know when you want to head off.”

            With that, the meeting seemed to be over, and Sora started going through his pockets, apparently checking his supplies or something, Vanitas didn’t care enough to be sure. He’d already went through his own loadout prior to arriving, as was his custom. It wasn’t possible to be over-prepared. The rest of the group set to their own preparations, but to his confusion Leon walked past him, saying “Nice jacket” as he went. Nonplussed, Vanitas could only stare in confusion. Leon smirked, and Sora grinned.

            “I’m ready,” Sora announced. “How about you, Vanitas?”

            “I’ve _been_ ready,” Vanitas ground out, with just the faintest edge of irritation. “Can we just go?”

            Cid nodded. “Mount up.”

 

 

            “ _Whyyyyyyy_ do I always do this to myself?” Yuffie groaned. Her head was stuck over the back of the cart, where she wasn’t in danger of hitting her head if she lost her lunch. The cart was motorized, with Cid sitting in the front. Cloud, sitting next to her, patted her back with a rueful smile.

            “Is she okay?” Sora asked, concerned.

            Cloud shrugged. “She gets motionsick really easily. I used to be the same way when I was younger. But she’ll be okay, right, Yuffie?”

            “I wish I was _deaaaaaaaaaaad!_ ”

            “She’ll be fine,” Cloud said, smiling at Sora.

            Sora raised an eyebrow. “Are… _you_ okay, Cloud? You seem a bit more…” he trailed off, trying to find the proper word.

            “Cheery?” Cloud asked, smirking. “Yeah. I guess so. It takes a bit of a weight off. Sephiroth being dead. And I have you to thank for that, Sora.”

            “Well, of course! You’re my friend!” Sora said, beaming. Vanitas tried very hard to resist rolling his eyes, but ultimately caved to temptation. 

            “Still. I don’t have to wake up terrified someone I care about got killed again,” Cloud said. “Because of you. And… Aerith has been helping with that.” He looked down, flushing a bit, and smiled. Vanitas successfully resisted the temptation to gag.

            Sora’s eyes widened. “Really? Congratulations, Cloud! How long…?”

            “There’s, uh, not anything official yet,” he backpedaled. “But we’ve been… talking.”

            “Talking is good!” Sora said, with a broad smile.

            Tifa, on the other side of Yuffie, shifted slightly. Sora paid her no mind, but Vanitas caught the look on her face, before she schooled it back into a neutral expression.

            Jealousy was easy to recognize. To his mild surprise, there was a jolt of pain in his heart, even though he himself hadn’t been hurt. Maybe it was that “sympathy” thing Kairi had yelled at him about. Questions for later.

            Cid glanced back and sighed a bit. “You okay, Cid?” Sora asked.

            “Huh? Oh, yeah. Just seeing all you kids go through this sort of stuff makes me miss Shera, is all. My wife,” he explained at Sora’s confused expression. “I couldn’t find her during the Fall, and I had to get out with the kids, so I couldn’t look for her. I haven’t seen her since, and… well, I try not to think hard about it. But I miss her.” He leaned back and sighed. “She used to make the best g – Sora, cover your ears.”

            Still confused, Sora put his hands over his ears. “She used to make the best _goddamn_ tea you’d ever drank,” Cid finished, motioning Sora to uncover his ears. “There’s a chance she’ll show back up here one of these days, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. It’d just hurt more.”

            “Show… back up?” Vanitas dared to ask. Obviously the “Fall” was whatever calamity had befallen Radiant Garden since he’d been dead.

            “Well, Sora and the rest have destroyed a lot of Heartless and Nobodies,” Tifa said. “And when you destroy the Heartless and the Nobody…”

            “The Somebody comes back to life!” Sora said, nodding in understanding. “But I thought that was just the powerful Nobodies that kept human form?”

            “Yeah, we thought so, too,” Cid said. “But, people keep randomly showing up in pillars of light, ever since Riku and the King pulled Aqua and Ansem the Wise outta the Realm of Darkness. And it’s all people from before the Fall, so that’s gotta be what’s happenin’ to them.”

            “That’s why we’re having such a problem with the Heartless,” Tifa said. “Our population’s growing in fits and spurts, and we need more construction to keep up with everyone. We’re not at the breaking point yet, but building well ahead means we need more room to build _in_.”

            “Oh, I get it,” Sora said. “Every time you build more stuff, you have to go further out from the centre, and further towards the Heartless.”

            “Exactly. And we can’t make much headway without Keyblades to put them down permanently,” Cloud said.

            “So… you literally just need us to kill all the Heartless?” Vanitas asked.

            “Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to get _all_ of them,” Tifa said. “More always show up. But if you can push them back a bit, it’ll give us a bit more of a chance to expand Tron’s defensive system. Then it’s easier to keep them out.”

            “That’s just gonna be life for the foreseeable future,” Cloud said. “Could be worse. At least there’s still stuff for all of us to do.”

            Tifa rolled her eyes. “It’s not like there isn’t stuff we’d rather be doing, Cloud. I want to set up that bar, Aerith wants that orphanage and school, and I know you still want to arrange that mail service. We’ll need it someday, especially if we keep expanding.”

            “Yeah, sure,” Cloud said, but smiled warmly.

            “It’s just the group of you doing this?” Vanitas asked. Maybe they were more capable than they looked.

            “Mostly, although Dilan and Aeleus help out, too,” Cid said. “We take it in shifts. Leon has the day off today, by which I mean there’s other sh – stuff he’s trying to sort out.”

            “Turns out it’s not that simple trying to set up a community,” Tifa said, amused. “Not bad for how antisocial he used to be as a little kid.”

            Vanitas noticed that Sora was beaming at him. “What?” he demanded.

            “Nothing!” Sora said, but his expression didn’t change.

            Cid drove them out along roads carved into the walls of a canyon, coming to a halt in a large clearing. “Oh, here!” Sora said.

            “Yep,” Cid said, nodding.

            “You’ve been here before?” Vanitas asked.

            “Yeah. Fought off, like, a thousand Heartless here!” Sora said.

            “…of course you did,” Vanitas said, condescending. Obviously Sora was exaggerating. He stood up, and stepped off the back of the cart, summoning his Keyblade as he went. “Let’s get to it.”

            “Wait, but you don’t know anything about fighting Heartless, do you?” Sora said, scrambling after him.

            Vanitas rolled his eyes. “‘Stick pointy Key in Dark thing.’ It’s not complicated.”

            “Yeah, but there’s specific ones that–”

            “No time,” Cloud interrupted, unsheathing his massive compensation joke. “They’re here.”

            As he spoke, Yuffie, Cid, and Tifa jumped out to join them, and a black cloud of swirling limbs hurled out of the other end of the clearing.

            Vanitas’s breath hitched in his throat, and he swallowed, then grinned. 

            Dealing with other people was complicated. 

            Dealing with Heartless was not.

 

 

            “Why! Won’t! You! Go! Down!” Vanitas shrieked, swinging his Keyblade wildly at the Heartless before him. Every time, his strike would bounce off of its large body, and he was getting very frustrated.

            And also, very surrounded. Three more of the things had manoeuvred themselves around him as focused on the one. A stab of fear laced through him, and he almost wished it would manifest as a Flood, if only so they had something else to target. The Heartless started to close in, seeming to prepare for a charge that would splatter him –

            Until one of them exploded into pieces, revealing Sora standing behind it. “Vanitas!” he called. “This way!”

            Vanitas ignored Sora’s outstretched hand, but took the opportunity to escape. “What the hell was that?” he gasped, panting, trying to get his fear under control; something else his Unversed had made easier.

            “Those ones are invulnerable from the front, you have to hit them from behind,” Sora explained. “…I woulda told you about them if you’d listened,” he added, quietly.

            Vanitas glared at him. “…Fine. I’m listening now,” he said, gruffly. “Explain.”

            “Okay, so, we call those Large Bodies, and they’re a pain,” Sora said. “They move around really fast, so even if you get behind them, it’s hard to stay there. Some of them even breathe fire, which is _real_ annoying.” 

            “…You call them ‘Large Bodies’?” Vanitas asked, confused and slightly disgusted.

            Sora frowned. “Yeah, what? It’s what they are.”

            “What fucking idiot came up with that simple a…” Vanitas trailed off at the indignant look on Sora’s face.

            “Look, I was fourteen, okay? I’d like to see you do better. What were your Unversed called?” Sora said, with just a hint of bitterness.

            Vanitas thought about Red Hot Chilies, Hareraisers, Jellyshades, and Spiderchests. “All their names were _awesome_ ,” he said, defensively. “Look, just… tell me more about the Heartless, okay?”

            Sora smirked. “All right.”

 

 

            Vanitas collapsed to his knees, panting. The Heartless had been satisfactorily pruned, and he was exhausted. Beside him, but not too close, Sora was also just as tired.

            Vanitas’s pulse, however, was still pounding in his ears. The Heartless had left, there was nothing to fight, but he was burning with the need to move, the need to fight, the need to _do something_. Adrenaline was a bitch, and he couldn’t push the tension out as an Unversed anymore.

            “I think that’s it for now,” Cloud said. Vanitas hated the fact that he hadn’t seemed to have broken a sweat. Stupid perfect blond palm tree. “Everyone all right?”

            “I’ve had worse!” Yuffie announced, a hand pressed over a cut on her upper arm.

            “That doesn’t mean you’re not… sheesh,” Tifa muttered.

            There was an engine sound, and a motorcycle slid into view down the road they’d arrived on. It pulled to a stop in front of them and its brown-haired riders both climbed off.

            “I see we missed the party,” Leon quipped, as Aerith rushed over to Yuffie.

            “You’ll get your chance later,” Cloud said, smirking at him. “Did you take care of her?”

            “Your bike or your girl?” Leon replied, matching his smirk.

            Cloud reddened. “She’s not my… I mean, we’re not… She’s… I’m…”

            Leon laughed and clapped him on the back. “Calm down, Cloud. The bike’s fine.”

            Sora caught the way Aerith was blushing as she healed Yuffie’s cut and beamed. Vanitas caught the way Tifa was grimacing and felt that stab of pain in his heart again.

            Yuffie seemed to notice Tifa’s reaction as well. “Hey, Aerith, I’m fine now. Wanna go check on the boys?” she asked, smiling.

            “Hmm? Oh, yes. You’re sure you’re all right?” Aerith asked.

            “Pffff, yeah, fine! Go on! They look like they’re about to fall over!” Yuffie said, waving her away. Aerith crossed over to Cloud, and once her back was turned, Yuffie’s grin faded somewhat. She turned to Tifa and sat down beside her, murmuring a question lower than Vanitas could hear.

            He shook himself. No time to be caring about other people’s shit, he had to get himself under control. To calm himself down before –

            “Vanitas, are you all right?”

            It happened in seconds. Looking back he was at least proud of the fact that he didn’t summon his Keyblade and threaten her.

            As it was, his reaction still left something to be desired.

            “ _Get away from me!_ ” he shrieked, roughly shoving Aerith’s hand off his shoulder and spinning around, dropping into a defensive stance, Instinct told him that what had touched him was a Heartless, a monster, something that meant him harm.

            But when his eyes finally focused, all he could see was a twenty-something girl in a pink dress, looking mortified.

            “Vanitas? It’s all right, it’s okay. The fight’s done. We’re safe.” Sora didn’t try to touch him, spoke calmly and gently. But there was still a problem.

            “I, can’t, calm, down,” Vanitas choked out, in short gasps through clenched teeth. “Something’s, wrong, with, me.”

            Sora’s eyes widened. “Okay. Um, I can get you to a place where I know for a fact we won’t be in danger. Would that help you?”

            “Can’t, hurt.”

            “Cloud! Do you mind if I borrow your motorcycle?” Sora asked, looking at the blond man.

            Cloud, correctly reading the situation, didn’t make a joke. “Can you drive a motorcycle, Sora?”

            Sora shrugged. “I could drive the lightcycles in Tron’s world just fine. It’s the same principle, right?”

            Cloud sighed. “Not exactly, but–”

            “Cloud, please? It’s an emergency,” Sora insisted.

            Cloud looked from Sora to Vanitas. Vanitas was starting to shake. “All right, go. We’ll catch up.”

            “Thanks!” Sora said, and motioned Vanitas over to the motorcycle. “Aerith, we’re really sorry about this!”

            “It’s fine, Sora,” Aerith said, quickly (a little too quickly, in Vanitas’s opinion. Fuck. He didn’t need to be noticing things like this.) “Is he going to be okay?”

            “I hope so,” Sora said, grimly. “We’ll be at Merlin’s if you need us.” He pulled Vanitas on to the bike behind him, wrapping the other boy’s arms around his waist. Vanitas was still to shaken to protest, all his energy focused on not breaking down. Sora gunned the engine, and the two rode off in the direction of Radiant Garden.

            “Shit. I hope the kid’s going to be okay,” Cid commented.

            “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have touched him,” Aerith murmured.

            “Hey, no it’s not. He was wound up from the fight to begin with. You weren’t here, you didn’t know,” said Tifa, placing a comforting hand on Aerith’s shoulder.

            “Tifa’s right,” Cloud said. “That kid… he reminds me a lot of me when I was younger.”

            “Meaning he needs help and is too proud to ask for it?” Yuffie teased, but her face was still serious.

            “Meaning, something got broken, and he’s not sure what to do to fix it,” Cloud replied.

            Leon nodded. “Then it’s a good thing he’s with Sora. But what’s there at Merlin’s that could possibly help?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kids, do you like Final Fantasy?  
> As you might remember, I finished Final Fantasy VII _right_ before Kingdom Hearts III dropped. Which means I can actually write these characters from experience! (Except Leon. I wasn't finished with FF8 at the time of writing. But I _was_ far enough through to make jokes about Squall being antisocial. I love the little shit.) If you, too, think that Cloud seems a bit more cheery here than he has been previously in Kingdom Hearts, well, the version of him in KH is based on his Advent Children portrayal. Where he's badly handling his ~~severe depression~~ geostigma. Actual Cloud in FF7 proper is more like the way I'm writing him here. And that's what you're getting. I have _reasons_ for this, which I will get to in a future fic (this is another "Xehanort comes first" thing).  
> And on the subject of FF7, I'm aware that at one point it was a hot-button issue, so let me quantify my shipping choices here. In FF7 proper, I agree that Cloud/Tifa is canon, and that Aerith was only interested in Cloud because he fell through the ceiling dressed, talking, and acting like her missing, presumed-dead boyfriend. It wasn't romantic interest on her part (though it might have been on Cloud's), but just her trying to find out what happened to Zack. _That said_ , this is _NOT_ FF7 proper, and I have plans for Tifa. Also, Zack's dead. Thanks, Sephiroth! Also, Sephiroth's dead. Thanks, Sora! (in other words, I'm taking the Sephiroth fight in KH2 as canon to this AU).  
> Having played FF7 lets me drop in other things from it, such as Yuffie having terrible motionsickness, and Shera Highwind's _GOD DAMN_ tea. Also Cloud's motorcycle from Advent Children.  
> As for the "debate" about the Heartless versus Unversed names... I'm gonna be real, I actually had to reach pretty hard for Unversed names that I _didn't_ think were good. Van's not lying, most of them have pretty good names. And what I came up were mostly just a tad too on-the-nose for my taste. Or bad puns (HARE-raisers? _really?_ ).  
> Next week... I've been planning something _special_...


	2. The Interjection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>             An Introduction is to introduce people, but I’m quite sure that you’re already familiar with Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the 100 Acre Wood. Similarly, when saying Good-bye to people you already know, it is, according to Owl, a Contradiction; however, we won’t be saying Good-bye just yet. We are saying neither Hello nor Good-bye to Pooh and all his friends, and thus we needed a word that was somewhere in the middle. Pooh, of course, being a Bear of Very Little Brain, did not have any ideas for what that word could be; neither did Sora, despite being a Hero of Very Stout Heart. Luckily, Owl was available yet again to inform us that what comes between an Introduction and a Contradiction, dear Pooh and dear Sora, is an Interjection.  
>             It was at this point that Vanitas spoke up, and said that that didn’t sound right. Very politely, I asked him what word he would prefer to use instead. He huffed, and crossed his arms, and didn’t seem to have an answer for me. But I am sure we can trust Owl; he is Learned and Wise, almost as much as Ansem the Wise. Anyways, I believe that it is time to end this small forward, and get on with the Interjection proper.

            One fine day, a familiar face appeared in the Hundred Acre Wood, followed by a face that was equally familiar in a not-very-familiar way. They came to a house in the middle of the Wood, where lived a bear under the name of Sanders.

            The bear, named Edward Bear but known better to us, his friends, and himself as Winnie-the-Pooh, sat outside his house, humming to himself, and wondering if perhaps it wasn’t tea time yet? Or perhaps it was. And perhaps if it was, then Sora and this other person who was also Sora would like to join him.

            “Hallo, Sora,” said Pooh. “And Hallo to you as well, Sora.”

            “Hello, Pooh!” said the first Sora. “It’s good to see you again!”

            “It’s good to see you as well,” Pooh agreed. “Although I think,” he said, “I might be wrong, but I _think_ ,” said he, “that I am seeing two of you.”

            The second Sora huffed and crossed his arms. “I’m not Sora,” he said.

            “Oh, my mistake,” said Pooh. “Forgive me, I am not a very Smart Bear. I shall try again.” He straightened up, so as to properly greet the new arrival. “Hallo, Not-Sora,” he said, firmly.

            Not-Sora appeared cross. “Pooh, his name isn’t ‘Not-Sora’,” said Sora. “It’s Vanitas!”

            “Oh!” said Pooh. “I knew that, but I had forgotten it. Hallo, Vanitas!” Expectantly, Pooh looked to Vanitas.

            Vanitas didn’t move, or react. Pooh looked to Sora, who merely shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Vanitas, it would be nice if you said ‘hi’ back.”

            Vanitas still seemed cross. “Sora,” he said, “may I have a word with you?”

            “Of course,” said Sora, and Vanitas led him a ways away, around the bend in the road that lead to Pooh’s house. Pooh, for his part, decided that if he was going to be having Sora and Vanitas for tea, he’d better check to see if he had enough honey to go around.

            “I wonder,” he murmured to himself. “Do Vanitases like honey?” Privately, he hoped they didn’t. He only vary rarely had enough honey for himself, although no matter how much he had, it never seemed like nearly enough, and it would wind up vanishing if left alone for enough teatimes.

            Outside, Vanitas and Sora were talking. “Sora,” Vanitas said, “what I thought you said was that you knew a place that was calm and peaceful.”

            “What do you mean?” Sora asked. Vanitas’s statement seemed to confuse him. “There’s no Heartless in the Hundred Acre Wood. There never have been!”

            “But there are _people_ ,” said Vanitas.

            “Yes, and what’s wrong with that?” Sora asked, smiling.

            “They’re _people_.”

            “Would you have preferred more Heartless?”

            Vanitas furrowed his brow and looked away. No, he would not have preferred more Heartless, but Sora didn’t seem to Understand. And this whole world posed more questions for him than it answered. He decided to ask some of them.

            “I thought you said it was a boy bear?”

            “He is.”

            “Then why did you say his name was Winnie?”

            “I didn’t,” said Sora. “His name is Winnie- _ther_ -Pooh. Don’t you know what ‘ther’ means?”

            “Of course I do,” said Vanitas, who didn’t. He resolved to ask Aqua about it during their next spelling lesson; though he didn’t want to admit it, he had long believed Aqua to be a Smart Girl, who Knew Things. She would know what it meant, even if he didn’t. And I hope _you_ all know what “ther” means, for it took me about twenty years to figure it out myself. But now Sora and Vanitas have rejoined Pooh, and so we must as well rejoin them.

            “I don’t suppose,” Pooh said, curious but not wanting to sound too curious, “I don’t suppose that you like honey, Vanitas?”

            “Not… really…” said Vanitas, confused and also Suspicious.

            “Oh, good!” said Pooh. “More for me.”

            “Pooh, would you mind coming with us?” Sora asked. “I want to introduce Vanitas to everyone else, as well!”

            “When you say ‘everyone else’,” Vanitas asked, “you mean there are _more?_ ”

            “Well, yes!” said Sora. “There’s Piglet and Owl and Rabbit and Roo and Tigger and–”

            “And Pooh,” said Pooh.

            “Yes, but you’ve already met him,” said Sora.

            “Oh, have I?” said Pooh.

            “Yes.”

            “Oh.”

            Vanitas looked like he wanted to say something. However, before he could, Sora and Pooh had swept him along, on the way to visit Piglet at his house, where he lived by a sign that read “TRESPASSERS W”. It was, Piglet had once explained, the name of his grandfather, and short for “Trespassers Will”, itself short for “Trespassers William”. Vanitas received this information without comment. Piglet received Vanitas with much trepidation, fearing that he was a Woozle, but Sora’s presence was enough to reassure him. They continued on to meet Rabbit, who had seemed quite Suspicious himself, but Sora assured Vanitas that Suspicion was how Rabbit greeted any New Arrival, and that he shouldn’t take it personally.

            They continued on to Owl’s house, and after introductions continued on towards Kanga and Roo’s house, for Sora himself had never met Kanga before, and was excited to do so. As they walked, they did their best to outrun Owl as he told the story of how his great-Aunt Mildred had once encountered another Owl that looked just like herself, a long, plodding story that no-one was quite all that interested in, but not to the point of quite impolitely asking him to stop telling it, as even Vanitas thought that would be Rude, meaning that as their progression continued though the trails and over the hills and down the valleys, the sound of Owl’s voice followed them as he continued on, and on, and on, in a manner not unlike this sentence, though Sora was paying close enough attention to realize that what great-Aunt Mildred had found was not, in fact, an Owl identical to her, but rather a mirror.

            On the way, they met with another acquaintance. “Hello, Tigger,” Sora said, in an underneath sort of way. “This is Vanitas. Please don’t bounce him.”

            “Well, Hallo, Vanitas!” Tigger said, stepping off of Sora. “What, do you not like Bouncing?”

            “He would probably like Bouncing,” Sora said, standing up and dusting himself off, “Only, he wouldn’t like being Bounced Upon, you see.”

            Vanitas agreed, having just seen an example, that he would not like being Bounced Upon very much at all. Though Vanitas was a naturally frowny sort of person, his frown had deepened with every new person he was introduced to. He had not been in a meeting-new-people mood prior to coming to the Hundred Acre Wood, and the constant meetings and greetings were not helping him feel all that much more comfortable.

            Upon meeting Kanga and Roo he realized he had reached the Last Straw. He drew Sora aside and said, “I’ve had enough.”

            “Enough?” Sora asked. Vanitas’s words had confused him. “Enough of what?”

            “Enough,” Vanitas said, “of people. And enough,” said he, “of you.” And he turned, and walked away through the forest.

            “Vanitas, wait!” Sora called, but Vanitas continued on.

            “Is everything all right, Sora?” Piglet asked, nervously.

            Sora sighed. “No, Piglet, it’s not. I think I may have done something wrong.”

 

 

            Vanitas stumped along through the brambles, grumbling under his breath. He had paid no attention to the way he had gone, and was well and truly lost.

            He stopped, upon realizing this, and attempted to give voice to his feelings, but for some reason, the specific words he wanted to say would not leave his mouth. “This must be what it’s like for everyone else around Sora,” he muttered. And it was true. The DISNEY field may have held no sway over Vanitas, but even he had to bow down before the effects of the Majorly Interfering Location Negating Expletives, or the MILNE, for short.

            In a huff, he sat down and leaned back against a nearby rock, which said “HRNGHRPH.”

            Vanitas placed his hand against his face. “Not _another_ one,” he groaned, and then sat up.

            The rock, or what he had thought was a rock, seemed to actually be an old, grey donkey, minus a tail.

            “Yes, I suppose I am Another One,” the donkey said, gloomily. “Though one might ask, Another What?”

            “Another _person_ ,” Vanitas said, cross.

            “Ah. I am, at that. Insofar as any of us are,” said the donkey. “And I suppose you are as well.”

            Vanitas bristled. “Look, whoever-you-are–”

            “I do have a name,” said the donkey. “If you cared to ask,” he continued. “But you don’t. No one does. Not a thought. It doesn’t cross their minds, or cross the fluff they may have instead. Not a one asks ‘How’s Eeyore?’ or ‘Where’s Eeyore?’. Even when there are Introductions to be made. I know How It Is.”

            “You’re Eeyore, then?” Vanitas asked, with great restraint.

            “Somebody has to be,” said Eeyore, morosely. “And it might as well be me.”

            There was a period of silence.

            “I don’t suppose I need your name, then,” Eeyore said. “Some might find it nice to know who they’re speaking with. But not I. I can Continue On Without Knowing. It’s not like it matters to _me_ any.”

            “I’m Vanitas,” Vanitas muttered.

            “Vanitas. Wonderful,” Eeyore said, in a way which made Vanitas think that perhaps, Eeyore didn’t find his name all that wonderful at all. “And what brings you to the Forest, Vanitas? Some sort of celebration that I wasn’t invited to? Gaiety. Song-and-dance. The Usual, I suppose.”

            “None of your business,” Vanitas said.

            “I suppose it isn’t,” said Eeyore. “It never is. Don’t let me rain on your good time.” They sat in silence.

            Eventually, Vanitas said. “Sora brought me here. He thought I would enjoy myself.”

            “Some can,” said Eeyore.

            “Not me,” said Vanitas. “Sora _likes_ people. I find it Strange and Odd.”

            “Sora is like that,” Eeyore said. “Someone has to be, I suppose. More’s the pity.”

            Vanitas found himself nodding. It didn’t surprise him that Eeyore already knew Sora. Sometimes it seemed that everyone did. “I don’t like people,” he mumbled.

            “Someone has to be like that, too,” Eeyore rumbled. “It could be worse. At least it’s not raining.”

            Vanitas absorbed this without comment. “True,” Eeyore continued as if he had spoken, “It _could_ rain. Or snow. Or hail.”

            “…but it’s not raining _yet_ ,” Vanitas murmured.

            “True,” Eeyore agreed.

            The two sat in silence once more, but there seemed to be a new understanding between them. Eventually, Eeyore asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a tail around?”

            “A tail?”

            “My tail. I was quite attached to it, only, I’m not anymore.”

            Vanitas shook his head. “I don’t think I have.”

            “No, I suppose not. Bother,” Eeyore said. “That’s the thing about tails. You’re only attached to them until you aren’t. I’m sure you know the feeling.”

            “I don’t have a tail,” Vanitas said, puzzled.

            “That thing behind you isn’t a tail, then?”

            “No, it’s a…” Vanitas twisted to look at the shirt he wore around his waist. “It’s a… Huh. I don’t know what you would call this.”

            “But not a tail.”

            “Not a tail.”

            “Figures.”

            Vanitas sighed. “I… _suppose_ I could help you look for it,” he grumbled.

            “Oh, no, you don’t have to. I wouldn’t want to put you out, just to help _me_. It’s just a tail. It’s not Important.”

            Quietly, Vanitas said, “If it’s important to you, that makes it Important.”

            “Some,” said Eeyore, “would say that’s so.”

            “I suppose,” said Vanitas, “that I’m Some.”

            “Somebody has to be,” Eeyore rumbled.

            Vanitas stood up. “Is your tail around here?” he asked.

            “No,” said Eeyore. “I needed a Moment to myself, to Sit and be Miserable. So I chose this spot, you see. It was as good,” he said, “as any other.”

            Vanitas nodded, because Eeyore’s words, in a way, made sense to him. He himself had needed Moments, in the past. “Walk with me,” he suggested, “and we’ll look for it.”

            “Tails,” said Eeyore, “have a way of showing up when one least expects it. Sometimes they are used as bell-pulls. Sometimes they are used as a Pin-The-Tail game. It’s all the same to me, really.”

            Vanitas led the way back the way he’d came, occasionally stopping to make sure Eeyore was following, which he was, if slowly. Eventually they returned to the little clearing outside of Kanga and Roo’s house, where everyone was still gathered.

            Sora looked up as they returned, but he didn’t say anything to Vanitas at first, instead squatting down and saying hello to Eeyore.

            “Hallo, Sora,” Eeyore replied. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a tail around here at any point?”

            As it so happened, while the group had been walking between Rabbit’s house and Owl’s, Sora had in fact spotted a small, grey tail on the path. He had scooped it up, recognizing it as Eeyore’s, and now took the opportunity to reunite it with its owner.

            “Oh!” said Eeyore, looking back and spinning around. “Yes. One always feels better when reunited with something one is so attached to. Do you see, Vanitas?”

            “Yes,” said Vanitas. “I do see.”

 

 

            “Kanga had a few words for me after you left,” Sora explained. “She said that, perhaps what makes me Feel Better When I’m Down, isn’t what makes you Feel Better.”

            Vanitas shrugged his shoulders, having come to the same conclusion. “She may be right.”

            “I am sorry, Vanitas,” Sora said, sincerely. “I didn’t Think.”

            Vanitas, though it was small, smiled. “I suppose Pooh’s not the only one with Very Little Brain.”

            Sora had a laugh at that, and they rejoined the others. There were, of course, more introductions to be made, as Vanitas hadn’t gotten through meeting Kanga and Roo properly, and there was at least one person who simply wasn’t there. Owl explained to a curious Sora that Gopher had left before Sora and Vanitas arrived, stating simply that he “wasn’t in the book”, and therefore, since the fan-fiction is mimicking the book, should not be in the fan-fiction, either. Of course, seeing as the world of the Hundred Acre Wood is accessed through a book, implied to be a volume of _Winnie-the-Pooh_ due to its design, it only makes sense that, despite being a Disney character, Gopher wouldn’t _be there to begin with_. But we have digressed from the story once again, and I apologize.

            Vanitas was confused. “You said the game is called…?”

            “Poohsticks!” Sora said. “Would you like to play with us?”

            “Absolutely not,” said Vanitas.

            “I don’t want to play,” said Vanitas.

            “You can’t make me,” said Vanitas.

            “No, I want the larger stick,” said Vanitas.

            And they all had a wonderful time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I've got some explaining to do. Namely, "why?"  
> Because.  
> That's why.  
> All right, serious answer. The trip to the 100 Acre Wood wasn't originally part of the idea. I had a bunch of stuff I had to set up as regards Radiant Garden for the sake of future fics; specifically, the fact that Heartless will still be a problem there even after Xehanort is gone, and the fact that people who lived there before the Fall (read: other Final Fantasy characters) are recompleting. Didn't have much of a story aside from that, until I realized Vanitas would _loathe_ the 100 Acre Wood if he was forced to go there against his will.  
> And then, some time after deciding on that, I hit upon the idea of writing that part of the fic in as-close-to A. A. Milne's writing style as I could manage. I honestly wasn't sure that I _could_ do it, but I wanted to try. To measure my capacity (is anyone going to get that reference? Am I old?)  
> As for why I wanted to do it like this... Disney is not the sole owner of my childhood experiences with Winnie-the-Pooh. I've mentioned that my mother worked in early child education previously; so for all my life, we've had copies of _Winnie-the-Pooh_ and _The House at Pooh Corner_ (and also of _When We Were Very Young_ and _Now We Are Six_ , but I was less interested in those). In addition, I grew up with a book on cassette tape (maybe I _am_ old) of "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump" and "In Which a House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore". I cannot for the life of me figure out who the narrator was (one man, doing voices for each of the characters, and this was in the 1990s that we had it, I have no idea when it was actually recorded), but he had a distinct way of voicing Milne's writing. It has stuck with me over the years, and therefore the particular cadences and tones of Milne's work sound a certain way to me; it makes it Easier Than One Would Think to slip back into it, and indeed, one occasionally might slip into it accidentally when writing something else after this chapter.  
> Uh.  
> Whoops?  
> But regardless, this is why the characters don't sound exactly like their Disney versions. I love Jim Cummings as much as the next guy, but it's not his voice I hear when reading the original stories.  
> Oh, and I'd like to apologize again for the bit about Gopher. The fact that he's "in the book" in Kingdom Hearts 2 (and 3, now) when the entire crux of his character is a tongue-in-cheek pointing out that he's "not in the book" (i.e. he's a Disney original character standing in for the generic "Rabbit's friends-and-relations") is something I quite enjoy pretending to get angry about. He's actually one of my favourite characters, even if I can't do the dang whistling sound with my teeth (been trying for over 20 years. Nothing).  
> As for the story itself, I was originally planning on having Sora and Kanga's conversation be written out, but I thought since the Vanitas and Eeyore scene flows so well into reuniting with Sora et al, it would be too awkward to have a sudden cut back to what Sora was doing. Also: this is the longest thing I've ever written in which Vanitas does not say a single swearword. Thank the M.I.L.N.E. (Look. Codename: Kids Next Door was a good show.)  
> I think that's about everything, feel free to ask if you, too, don't get what "ther" means (honestly kind of mad at myself that it took me this long to figure it out). We'll be back in Radiant Garden proper for the last bit next week. And I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	3. The Last Bit

            Vanitas stepped out of the wizard’s house and stretched.

            “Feeling better?” Sora asked.

            “…yeah,” Vanitas admitted. He’d never been able to have mindless fun before. And if there was anything the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood were good at, it was ~~being mindless~~ having fun.

            “I’m sorry I pushed meeting new people on you,” Sora said.

            “It’s fine,” Vanitas said, quietly. “It went better than I thought it would.” He sighed. “I have to apologize to what’s-her-name… Aeris?”

            “Aerith,” Sora said.

            “Yeah, her. Don’t I?”

            Sora shrugged. “Well… you didn’t do anything wrong, technically. What does your heart say?”

            “It says I should… wait,” Vanitas stopped, rounding on Sora with fury in his eyes. “Fuck off, who gives a shit what my ‘heart’ says?”

            “Well, I do,” said Sora. “And for a second there it sounds like you did, too. What feels like the right thing to do, to you?”

            “…I should apologize,” Vanitas muttered, reluctantly.

            Sora beamed. “See?”

            “Fuck you.”

 

 

            Vanitas cleared his throat. Aerith, standing facing away from him in the kitchen, jumped a little bit. He hadn’t been able to kick the habit of moving stealthily.

            He’d come to see her in the house that the Restoration Committee all shared. He was lucky enough to catch her alone, which Sora definitely hadn’t orchestrated somehow. How could he have?

            (He hadn’t, obviously. But what Vanitas was missing was that Aerith wanted to speak with him, too.)

            “I, uh… wanted to… apologize,” he mumbled.

            “Apologize?” Aerith asked.

            “For snapping at you,” Vanitas muttered. “I… shouldn’t have done that. You were… just trying to help.”

            Aerith seemed to consider this. She waved a hand toward a couch in the living area. “Why don’t we sit down?”

            Cautiously, Vanitas followed her, and even took the teacup she offered. “You don’t need to apologize,” she said, just as he was about to sip from it. “You were obviously wound up, and distracted. I shouldn’t have approached you without alerting you. If anything, I should be apologizing for startling you.”

            Vanitas looked down, frowning. “S’not your fault though. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

            Aerith smiled, and it was like watching a field of flowers bloom. “And neither did you.”

            “I… still want to apologize, though,” Vanitas mumbled.

            Aerith, to his irritation, smiled again. “I think that just means you’re a kind person.”

            “It absolutely does not,” Vanitas barked, then remembered why he was there in the first place. “I’m… sss…or-ry,” he muttered, abashed, still stumbling over the word.

            Aerith giggled, and brought her fist up, opening it and waving her fingers. “It’s okay. All is forgiven.”

            “…then don’t go being mad at yourself, too, okay?” Vanitas mumbled. “If you can forgive me, then I can forgive you, right? Isn’t that how it works?”

            Aerith beamed at him, still giggling. “Yes, yes it does. All right then, we both forgive each other. Do you feel better?”

            Vanitas looked down at the teacup in his hands, considering. Slowly, a small smile of his own crossed his face.

            “…Yeah.”

 

 

            “So, all’s well that ends well, eh, Leon?” Sora asked, beaming as usual.

            Leon smirked. “I suppose so, Sora. Thanks for the help. And it was good to see you, but we still want to see Kairi and Riku again, you know.”

            “Yeah, I know,” Sora said, rubbing his head. “Maybe we can–”

            He was interrupted by a beeping noise coming from Leon’s pocket. “What’s that?” Sora asked as Leon pulled out a small, rectangular block, with a lid that he flipped open.

            “Ienzo’s been working on something. Kind of like a radio,” he said, then lifted it to his ear. “Tron?” he asked.

            He listened intently to what the Program had to say, and nodded, then remembered. “Got it. We’re on our way.”

            “On our way to what?” Sora asked, instantly ready for whatever it was.

            “Well…” Leon said. “Remember how we said that people had started showing up randomly, and we think they’re recompleting?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Tron, Even, and Ienzo figured out a way to predict that it’s gonna happen.”

            “Oh.” Sora’s eyes widened. “Wait, so, you mean..?”

            “I mean we’ve got to get to the courtyard,” Leon said, smirking. “Come on!”

 

 

            They rounded the corner and reached the courtyard just in time to see several brilliant pillars of light shoot straight into the air. Sora threw up his hands to block the bright light; now, belatedly, he realized why Leon had put on sunglasses while they were running.

            As the light faded, three forms wavered and fell over: two women and a man. Leon and Sora were by their sides in a flash, helping them all to their feet.

            “Welcome back to Radiant Garden,” Leon said wryly. “You’ve been away for some time.”

            The man he was helping up straightened and blinked, pushing his blond, almost white hair away from his eyes. “…Squall?” he asked, voice cracking with disuse. “Squall Leonhart?”

            Leon, to Sora’s quiet amusement, reddened. “I… go by Leon now,” he said. “Do I know you?”

            “Well, the last time I saw you, you were seven or so, so I’d be very surprised if you did,” said the man. He straightened, and offered Leon his hand. “My name’s Cecil.”

            Sora was about to ask why he was pronouncing it like that, until he saw Leon’s eyes widen. “Cecil? Cecil _Harvey_?” he asked.

            Cecil nodded. “I guess you do remember me, huh?” he said, smiling. It was a warm, comforting, smile.

            “Uh, I’m new here, sort of,” Sora cut in. “Leon, who is this?”

            “Cecil was one of the community leaders before the fall,” Leon said, still stunned. “It’s… good to see you again, sir.”

            Cecil raised an eyebrow. “You’re a bit old to be calling me ‘sir’, Leonhart.”

            “Though you’re still just as cute as _I_ remember,” said one of the women in a teasing tone, nodding her thanks as Sora pulled her to her feet.

            “What’s your name, ma’am?” Sora asked.

            The woman, smiled, and walked over to take Cecil’s hand. She was also blonde, but unlike Cecil hers was closer to a red than a pure white. “My name is Rosa. Rosa Farrell.” Cecil looked at her, and smiled in such a way that Sora was instantly certain that the two loved each other. Rosa looked back at the other woman as Sora went to help her up as well. The woman, older, auburn-haired with streaks of grey, grimaced as she stood up. “And this is–”

            “Shera?”

            All five of them looked over at the ruins of the balcony that delineated the courtyard, to see Cid Highwind standing there as if he’d just seen a ghost.

            The woman broke into a gigantic smile. “Cid!”

            Cid moved faster than Sora had thought possible, racing down into the courtyard to gather the woman into his arms and spin her around, both of them laughing all the while.

            “Cid, is this your…” Sora broke off as Cid and the woman, who was indeed Shera, brought their heads together for a long kiss. “…I guess she is,” Sora said, chuckling.

            Leon smirked. “All’s well that ends well, I’d say.”

            “Yep!” Sora agreed. “I think we can consider this mission a success!”

            Cid and Shera eventually broke their embrace. “Cecil? Rosa? That you?” Cid asked.

            “Good to see you, Cid,” Cecil said, smiling. “Did you get older?”

            “We all did, smart…” Cid looked at Sora. “Sora, cover your–”

            “I think they get the point, Cid,” Leon said, amused.

            “Right, well…is my cousin with you?” Cid asked, gruffly.

            “Kain?” Rosa asked. “He was, but…”

            “We just arrived, honey,” Shera said. “He might not have come back with–”

            Shera was interrupted by another burst of bright light, blinding everyone present. It faded to reveal a tall man with long blond hair, darker than Cecil’s but lighter than Rosa’s, tied back in a ponytail. The man blinked, and staggered to his feet.

            “Well that answers that,” Cid said, smirking. “Welcome back, Kain.”

            “Back?” The man, Kain, looked around in surprise. “Have I been gone?”

            “We all have, apparently,” Cecil said.

            “Cecil? Rosa?” Kain’s eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. “Oh good, you’re both safe. And…” He looked at Leon. “Are you Squall Leonhart? Goodness, but you’ve grown.”

            “It’s… it’s Leon,” Leon said, sounding tired.

            “If you say so,” said Kain, seemingly amused. “Cid, Shera, it’s good to see you’re safe as well. If older.”

            “Is everyone gonna say that?” Cid grumbled.

            Shera kissed his cheek. “I think you look _distinguished_.”

            “That’s _a_ word for it,” Kain agreed, drily. Cid huffed. “Is there… any word on Ricard or Aranea?” Kain asked him.

            Cid shook his head. “Not yet. But we’re gettin’ more people back every day.”

            “Right,” Kain said. He sounded a little disappointed.

            Cecil stepped over to him, smirking somewhat. “Aw, do you need a hug, Kain?”

            “I do not.”

            “I think you do.”

            “You can think whatever you like, Cecil.”

            “I think I’m hugging you.”

            “Cecil, we’re in public.”

            “And?” Cecil stepped over and wrapped his arms around the other man. Kain sighed, and looked at Rosa in supplication. She shook her head, laughing.

            Sora found himself smiling. There was something about the three of them that reminded him of himself, Kairi, and Riku, back before they’d started dating. Although, the way Cecil was holding Kain was starting to remind him more of their current relationship.

            Kain noticed him staring and coughed. Cecil glanced at him, and jerked back out of the hug. Rosa moved to stand between the two of them.

            There were those who would call Sora unobservant, but they’d be wrong. He didn’t miss the way both Cecil and Kain’s hands twitched as Rosa moved between them. As if they were both used to holding one of her hands. As a Destiny Islands native, Sora saw nothing strange about this, but he had been wondering for a while why he hadn’t seen that sort of relationship, fairly common where he was from, in any other worlds.

            Hopefully, he thought, things could change now that Radiant Garden was being rebuilt, and they wouldn’t have to hide the way it seemed they were used to.

            Sora turned to Leon. “So, yeah, like I was saying earlier, I’ll bring Riku and Kairi to visit for sure next time! After we stop Xehanort, though. I want you all to meet my boyfriend and girlfriend!”

            Leon looked at him, confused, but Sora jerked his head towards Cecil, Rosa, and Kain, and Leon seemed to get it. “Right. We’re gonna hold you to that this time, you know?”

            “Of course!” Sora said, beaming half because of the looks of surprise on Kain, Cecil, and Rosa’s faces, and half just because. “It’s a promise!”

            “It… sounds like we’ve missed some things, Leon,” Cecil said, tearing his gaze away from Sora. “Would you mind filling us in?”

            “Of course,” Leon said, and Sora hid a grin at the way he obviously had to hold himself back from adding ‘sir’. “Walk with us, and I’ll show you what we’ve been up to.”

            Sora trailed back to the end of the group, grinning as Leon pointed out the new construction to Rosa, Kain, and Cecil, who had very gingerly and unobtrusively linked hands, and as Cid and Shera (at their ages there was no other word for it) canoodled.

            He understood that meeting new people wasn’t Vanitas’s cup of tea, but for him, there was nothing as fun as making new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You see why I didn't want to make all of this one chapter in Re:Adjustments, right?  
> There's not much more to say about this fic. Originally, this chapter (and the fic itself) ended at the line “I think we can consider this mission a success!”. Initially, I was planning on having Kain show up in the background of the next fic to be set in Radiant Garden, and have the relationship between himself, Cecil, and Rosa be only implied.  
> Then I thought about it and decided that was dumb and I should just lay it out explicitly.  
> For the uninitiated, the joke as regards Cecil's name is that, for some reason, Square Enix insists that it's pronounced "sessil"; as opposed to "see-sil", the _actual_ pronunciation. No, I don't know why.  
> And a note on the ages. The people who were Lesser Nobodies have not aged the way the human Nobodies did. So, Shera was actually older than Cid initially; now, since he's aged in the intervening time, they're closer to the same age (Cid's actually a year or two older than her now, which they all find amusing.) Also, all the Highwinds are cousins. _All_ of them. (I checked, in the main games it's just the four I mentioned here, so it won't get _too_ crazy. Unless the wiki lied to me, which I'd believe.)  
> I think that covers everything! I'll be back in two weeks with the only single-chapter fic between now and the final battle with Xehanort. Until next time!


End file.
